rocks of Gibraltar, 2,300 in Finland, 6,650 in Egypt, 
457 in Paraguay and 325 in Costa Rica. In fact, 
the gasoline horse has puffed and snorted its way 
into every corner of the earth, the deserts of Pata¬ 
gonia, the burning sands of Sahara, the swamps of 
Nicaragua and the ice of Alaska and Iceland. Take 
the country at large, there is one motor vehicle for 
every seven persons, with annual license fees of 
$188,970,992.24. New York leads in numbers, with 
1,204,213, or one for every nine persons. California 
has one car for every three persons, Iowa one for 
every four, and Nebraska, Kansas, Nevada, Oregon, 
South Dakota, Indiana, Colorado, Wyoming and 
Michigan one for every five. There are more than 
4,000,000 cars owned on farms. We may add that 
there are 15,370,000 telephones now working in the 
entire country. These figures show something of the 
growth of a great industry. It is estimated that the 
development will continue until there are 25,000,000 
and more motor vehicles in steady use. The tend¬ 
ency now is for a country’ family to own two cars— 
a light one for quick work and a heavier one for 
family use. We might go on and discuss the social 
and industrial effect of these cars upon the people— 
especially those who live in the country—but that is 
a story hy itself. 
Root-rot and Mouse Injury 
HERE THE TROUBLE STARTS.—It is no 
uncommon occurrence among orchard trees 
for one or several suddenly to appear sickly, with 
yellowing or dwarfed foliage, and for the trees af¬ 
fected to die gradually. An examination of the tree 
before death may show the top to be alive, though 
stunted, while the roots often show signs of some 
fungus trouble. The natural inference is that a dis¬ 
ease or root-rot is killing the trees. Fig. 343 shows 
a Baldwin tree with thin, dwarfed foliage, and 
fruits not much larger than crabapples, which 
seemed to be affected with just this sort of thing. 
In this particular instance, however, a more detailed 
examination of the tree showed an underlying cause 
for the fungous growth on some of the roots and at 
the collar of the tree just below the ground line. 
The bark had been gnawed or otherwise abraded the 
year before, and had permitted the entry of a fungus 
that has never been known to attack live wood. On 
other occasions trees have apparently succumbed to 
Winter injury, yet upon closer study it is found that 
the roots of the trees have suffered some mechanical 
injury in previous years to such an extent that the 
trees have been weakened and are unable to with¬ 
stand the rigors of a Winter from which healthy 
trees would have suffered no ill effects. 
CAUSES OF INJURY.—‘Careless plowing and 
grubbing, in which some of the main roots are barked 
ox torn, afford excellent opportunity for fungi to 
start. But probably most of the responsibility lies 
with field mice and other rodents which by their re¬ 
moval of bark and growing tissue, provide openings 
through which the fungi gain entry. Or their de¬ 
structive work may so weaken the tree that it dies 
from severe cold in Winter or from drought in mid¬ 
summer. 
DESTRUCTIVE RODENTS.—Accordingly a re¬ 
cent farmers’ bulletin by James Silver which dis¬ 
cusses thoroughly mouse control in field and oi-chard 
is especially welcome 'to orchardists. It seems that 
most orchard injury is done by two kinds of short¬ 
tailed field mice, namely, meadow mice and pine 
mice. The meadow mouse woi-ks above ground, is 
larger than the pine mouse, more shaggy, dark 
brown in color, with a tail about twice as long as 
the hind foot. The pine mouse, on the other hand, 
is reddish brown in color and has a very short tail, 
about as long as the hind foot. The thing that 
makes the pine mouse especially dangerous is that 
he works largely under ground, and is not so easily 
detected as the meadow mouse, with its open surface 
runs. Much damage to orchard trees in Eastern 
United States is done by the pine mouse working 
upon the roots and about the collar of the tree just 
below ground. This type of injury being under¬ 
ground is most often unnoticed until other agencies 
have gained entry, or the tree affected has begun to 
show outward signs of injury. 
REPELLING VERMIN.—Experiments conducted 
by the United States Department of ' Agriculture 
were divided into tests of the effectiveness of remov¬ 
ing mouse shelters, of treating trees with repellent 
washes, of using mechanical tree protectors, and of 
killing the mice. Clean cultivation, removal of cov¬ 
ering, and ti’amping down of snow after each fall 
are common means of destroying shelter and so de¬ 
creasing the ravages of the mice. Lime-sulphur 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
painted on the trunks of trees has been found to be 
quite useful, excepting that it is not adhesive enough 
to last throughout the Winter. A paint of one part 
of creosote oil to two or three of coal tar has given 
the best results, but care must be taken not to use 
it below the ground surface, or on seedlings or trees 
under two years of age. Wire screens or protectors 
are very commonly used with success, yet no pro¬ 
tection is afforded by them against the pine mouse, 
which works mostly under ground. 
DESTROYING THE MICE.—The conclusion is 
reached that the only certain way of protection 
Root Trouble’ on a Baldwin Which Proved to be 
“Mouse Trouble” Fig. 3J/3 
against mice is to destroy them. Traps have been 
effective when properly placed in runways and regu¬ 
larly attended to. Poisoning, however, is cheaper 
and easier, and fully as certain. The chief difficulty 
to be encountered from the use of poison, it is’ said, 
lies in the fact that through exposure to the weather 
the poison is either washed off or the bait becomes 
unattractive. Consequently so-called “poison sta¬ 
tions” have been developed which offer shelter for 
both poison bait and mouse, and which result in a 
delightful combination so far as the orchardist is 
concerned. The poison stations are made of 1-in. 
A Good Job of Bridge-grafting. Suckers Should be 
Removed. Fig. 3//// 
lumber with a top 8 in. square, a bottom 6 in. squai*e, 
and side strips 1 y 2 in. high. A y 2 - in. depression or 
groove in the floor to hold the bait has been found 
desirable. Where mice are abundant it is well to 
have a station for each tree, locating the stations 
in natural positions of sheltei , < and covering them 
partially with grass or other shelter. 
RECOMMENDED POISONS.—One of the poisons 
recommended is as follows: “Mix together, dry, y s 
ox. of powdered strychnine and % oz. of baking 
soda. Sift the strychnine-soda mixture over one 
quart of rolled oats, stirring constantly to insure an 
907 
even distribution of the poison through the grain. 
Thoroughly warm the poisoned rolled oats in an 
oven and sprinkle over them six tablespoons of a 
mixture of three parts of melted beef fat and one 
part of melted paraffin, mixing until the oats are 
evenly coated. When the grain is cool it is ready for 
use.” 
Another material is: “Mix one tablespoon of gloss 
stai’ch in one-half teacup of cold water and stir into 
it three-fourtlis pint of boiling water to make a thin, 
clear paste. Mix 1 oz. of powdered strychnine with 
1 oz. baking soda and stir into the starch to a 
smooth creamy mass, free of lumps. Stir in one- 
fourth pint of heavy corn syrup and one tablespoon 
of glycerine. Apply to 12 quarts of wheat or to 20 
quarts of steam-crushed whole oats, and mix thor¬ 
oughly to coat each kernel.” h'. b. t. 
Reseeding Bare Spots in An Alfalfa Field 
August 15 last I sowed a field of seven acres to Al¬ 
falfa. The field is slightly rolling, of a rich sand loam, 
excepting the dips or hollows, which are a stiff, heavy, 
gravelly clay. I top-dressed most of it during the Win¬ 
ter with the manure right from the barn. However, in 
the hollows Alfalfa mostly all heaved out this Spring; 
can see the dead plants lying curled up on top of the 
ground. Some other places did not do well. After I 
iixake the first cutting would it be proper to drag this 
field with a spring-tooth drag? I have no idea whether 
this is done the first year or not. I know it is done 
after that. I am figuring on doing this, and resowing 
the poor places after dragging, and then plank those 
places just enough te cover the seed. b. c. j. 
Michigan. 
OU showed good judgment in top-dressing your 
Alfalfa stand during the Winter. Such a prac¬ 
tice is usually beneficial, although it may result in 
damage if the manure be lumpy, trashy or put on too 
thick. It should always be spx - ead evenly and 
thinly, so as to leave no danger of smothering the 
stand. I am somewhat acquainted with the soils in 
j our territory, and have had some experience with 
the heaving conditions that you describe. The trouble 
is that in the hollows you have a heavier soil that 
Inis more moisture, which produces heaving condi¬ 
tions. Evidently you use common Alfalfa, which 
produces a tap-root. This did well on your sandy 
loam soils, but the single tap-root could not hold the 
plant in place on the heavy soil when heaving con¬ 
ditions occurred. 
A good plan for you to adopt now is to disk and 
thoroughly harrow' these hollows where the plants 
heave out so badly, and prepare a good seed bed; 
then procure some genuine Grimm Alfalfa or some 
Ontario Variegated Alfalfa from reliable sources, 
and re-seed some time during the Summer. The 
plants produced by the Grimm or Ontario Varie¬ 
gated have a more branching root system, and a 
lower-set crown, which resists heaving conditions. 
I am sure that you will find the Grimm or the On 
tario Variegated plants will do a great deal better 
in these hollow places on your heavy soil than will 
the best of the Northern-grown common Alfalfa. 
Over in Monroe County, Michigan, there is a strain 
of Alfalfa grown locally. It is known as LeBeau 
Alfalfa. This does very well on low ground, but I 
do not think it is possible to get any seed of this 
strain this year, as the last year’s crop of seed was 
very small. You should be able to procure some 
genuine Grimm or Ontario Variegated. The seed of 
these recommended strains costs more per pound 
than common Alfalfa, but in that you need not use 
only about three-quarters as much seed, the cost of 
seeding on the basis of an acre is about equal, and 
you are getting a better Alfalfa for your more severe 
conditions. 
The practice of dragging a field is a beneficial one 
if good judgment be used. You should not consider 
disking or dragging at this time, as your stand is 
too young. Wait until the Alfalfa is well estab¬ 
lished, and then if Kentucky Blue grass starts to 
crowd it out or the stand becomes weedy, it would 
be well to px-actice some cultivation. Either a spike- 
tooth or spring-tooth harrow or a disk may be used. 
The Alfalfa, with its large root system, can with¬ 
stand the harrow'ing, but ordinary grass or weeds 
may easily be damaged by this treatment. 
Summing up your problem, I would recommend 
that you disk the thin spots and prepare a good seed 
bed and re-seed with reliable Grimm or Ontario Va- 
xiegated, but do not disk or harrow the remainder 
of the field which you describe as being good. If 
you continue your practice of top-dressing, be sure 
you always apply the manure eveidy and spread 
it very thinly. Alfalfa responds readily to treat¬ 
ments of acid phosphate also, applied at the rate of 
about 150 lbs. per acre. A L I{ 
What viler thing upon the earth than friends who 
can bring noblest minds to basest ends. 
